Relationship between the Electrophysiological Changes in the Peripheral Nerves of Diabetic Patients and the Differentiation of TCM Syndromes

Objective To explore the relationship between the electrophysiological changes in peripheral nerves of type 2 diabetic patients and the differentiation of TCM syndromes. Methods 128 cases of type 2 diabetic patients were observed. According to syndrome differentiation, they are classified as Qi and Yin deficiency, spleen deficiency with retention of phlegm and damp, Yin and Yang deficiency, Yin deficiency with heat and dryness, stagnation of heat and damp with bi-stagnation, Qi and blood stagnation. The examination of EMG, MCV, and ML were performed. Results 128 patients had 382 abnormal muscles (77%) under EMG exam , in which there were 57 cases of Qi and Yin deficiency with 159 abnormal muscles, 26 cases of spleen deficiency and phlegm-damp with 81, 14 cases of Yin and Yang deficiency with 38, 13 cases of Yin deficiency and heat-dryness with 37, 10 cases of damp-heat and Bi stagnation with 36, 8 cases of Qi and blood stagnation with 31. The patients with abnormal results from MCV had 823 (83.6%). Most of the patients with Yin deficiency and heat-dryness are normal in MCV, the abnormal rates in MCV of 4 nerves were significantly lower than the other syndromes (P0.01), the MCV abnormal rates of the Qi and blood stagnation patients were the highest, and those of the damp-heat and Bi-stagnation patients were the second.In the 6 kinds of different syndromes, ML of the Qi and blood stagnation patients was the longest, that of the damp-heat and Bi stagnation patients was the second, and that of the Qi and Yin deficiency patients was the shortest. Conclusion The electrophysiological changes in the peripheral nerves of 2 type diabetic patients changed mostly in those with the syndrome of Qi and blood stagnation, and secondly in the cases of spleen deficiency with retention of phlegm and damp, and damp-heat Bi-stagnation. It proves that the patients with excessive syndromes are more prone to have electrophysiological changes in peripheral nerves than those with deficiency syndromes and their condition are more serious.